Seth Meyers: We had to get NBC's approval to cancel a Late Night show for "Day Drinking with Rihanna"

Variety

"It was a very speedy approval from NBC," Meyers tells Variety of asking the network to show a Late Night rerun on Wednesday in order to tape the "Day Drinking "segment. "I do want to point out that this was only the second time we’ve had to cancel a show, and the other was the birth of my first son," says Meyers. "For the birth of my second son, I just went to work the next day. So the order goes, my first son, Rihanna, my second son." Meyers had long wanted to have Rihanna on the show. Normally, he would film "Day Drinking" on a non-taping day. But she gave him a date six weeks in advance, and it was a midweek date. So on Wednesday, Meyers spent nearly three hours drinking with Rihanna. "The thing about her that didn’t just strike me, but struck every single person who was there, she was immediately so friendly and relatable, and it became clear that she was down for the idea and what it entailed. You can plan what you think you’re going to do with 'Day Drinking,' but you understand that the best moments are going to be what happens in between, and what kind of drinker this person is. We had no intention for her to be chugging beer, but when she did that, I think it was a signal to everyone involved and everyone watching it that we were going to take off full speed ahead."